While the present average is low in the Australian wheatgrowing districts compared with other countries, the cost of production is also remarkably low. Furthermore, methods are improving generally, and a considerable increase in yield can be expected with confidence. The very richness of the soil and the kindliness of the climate has tempted growers to adopt speculative methods of growing wheat. The main idea has been to put a large area under crop on the chance of striking a good year, when a small fortune may be realised. But growers are being educated to the value of more careful methods as paying best in the long run. The average yield in Australia has been about 11 to 13 bushels per acre. The total area under wheat and the wheat yield in the different Australian States for the season 1913-14 was:—
| State. | Area.—Acres. | Yield.—Bushels. | Average per Acre. |
| New South Wales | 3,206,600 | 38,043,360 | 11.09 |
| Victoria | 2,786,421 | 32,936,245 | 12.84 |
| South Australia | 2,699,632 | 16,736,988 | 7.47 |
| Western Australia | 1,104,753 | 13,496,242 | 12.02 |
| Queensland | 132,655 | 1,769,432 | 13.34 |
| Tasmania[A] | 18,054 | 421,380 | 23.33 |
| 9,948,115 | 103,403,647 | 10.39 |
[A] Estimated.
As stated, compared with some of the older countries, such averages seem small, yet in the dry districts of Australia they mean a reasonable margin of profit. In such districts it is estimated that a 10-bushel crop per acre will pay $0.60 per bushel. Of late years the price received by growers has averaged about $0.84 per bushel.
Disc Ploughs are Popular in Australia.
The average return does not show what a district or country is capable of producing, as it is reduced by the low yields of careless and unskilled farmers. The men are responsible, and not the soil or climate. There are thousands of farmers who never have a lower average than 20 to 25 bushels, while in some well-farmed districts a whole locality has averaged nearly 30 bushels to the acre. The whole tendency now is towards more careful methods and higher averages, and this will mean greater prosperity for the farmers. As it is, men have been wonderfully successful in growing wheat in Australia, and if this is the case with the careless, largely happy-go-lucky style of the past, the prospect is extremely promising for the future. In a way, new men coming into Australia, and taking up wheatgrowing, stand a better chance than many of the long-settled farmers who have got into a groove—even a profitable one—and who do not care to bother greatly with progressive ideas. The new comer has no preconceived notions, and comes with an open mind adaptable to the teachings of experience.
The new settler has his path made easy by the attention the Governments of the different States are giving to wheatgrowing. In all the States there is a Department of Agriculture, and all its accumulated knowledge is available to the farmer. In all the principal States there are Government Experiment Farms, where new wheats are tried, and also the best methods; the results are furnished to the public. In most of the wheat districts there are demonstration plots showing the best varieties to grow in the different localities. The new settler is advised what varieties to grow in his locality, and when to grow them, what amount of fertiliser to use, and the best methods of handling his land. In any difficulty the resources of the Department of Agriculture are at his service. At the Government farms crops of the best wheats are grown, and the seed distributed amongst the farmers, while inspectors are continually travelling through the country lecturing and visiting the growers, and advising them, whenever advice is asked for. With such facilities the future of the settler practically depends upon the use he makes of his opportunities, and the opportunities are unsurpassed in any other country.
Putting in Seed.